This invention relates to industries which employ motorized, high speed transporting (and incidental thereto) the weighing or checkweighing of production line products; the weights of which are to be reported/registered/price-calculated/printed-out, or otherwise visually displayed. By way of example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,070,214; 3,180,475; 4,114,707 and 4,415,048 relate to machines currently employed in such industries.
More particularly, the invention relates to the use of so-called powered platform scales for weighing discrete articles being conveyed in succession at high speeds over a weighing device; the product weights of which in typical cases are to be visually displayed and also graphically recorded. In such machines, the weight detecting/reporting components thereof are subjected to error inductive dynamics such as are not encountered "stationary" platform type weighing machines.
The present invention provides several improvement featues vis-a-vis the prior art; and fulfills the need for a compact, small-sized machine which is more operationally versatile and useful in a production line weigh-out assembly as aforesaid when confronted by a variety of short order/long order and/or otherwise transitory production line set-up and/or system readjustment problems. Also, the machine of the invention is readily accessible to inspection and/or disassembly for such as clean-out/sanitizing and/or servicing purposes.
The objects of the invention are accomplished by providing multiples of thinly profiled (in plan view) weighing conveyor machines, which by virtue of unique "offset" relative arrangements of essential operative and structural components thereof are more adaptable to efficiently meet the aforesaid system readjustment problems.